Summary The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a capable smartwatch with extensive exercise and activity tracking features, making it a compelling choice for fitness enthusiasts.
While it may not offer the same level of specific training tools as dedicated sports watches, the Watch 6 is suitable for health and fitness tracking, accommodating both smaller and larger wrists.
The Watch 6 stands out for its improvements in the Health app and personalized heart rate zones, particularly beneficial for runners, along with enhanced sleep tracking capabilities and compatibility with various health and fitness apps through Wear OS.
Quick answer: Yes, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a smartwatch capable of tracking dozens of exercises and everyday activities, including new features tailored specifically for runners, as well as deeper sleep tracking. However, more serious athletes and adventure seekers might demand more intricate and specific training tools on their wrists.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is the smaller variant of Samsung’s latest smartwatches, compared to the larger Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, though they run the same software with the same features, including all the health and fitness tracking capabilities. The only thing that sets them apart is the larger size and the physical rotating bezel on the Classic. So, if you are looking for a smartwatch that can act like a fitness tracker, the Galaxy Watch 6 has enough to make it a compelling choice.
When you consider the best Android smartwatches for fitness, the Watch 6 is good enough to make the cut. It has a nice mix in that the 40mm and 44mm sizes accommodate smaller and larger wrists, and the device is ideal if you need a smartwatch for health and fitness tracking. It won’t go as far as more dedicated sports and training smartwatches, though, which means you have to take into account what you want to do and where you want to go.
What makes the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 different?
On paper, there aren’t many differences between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic. Both offer health and fitness tracking features, but the Classic may be the better choice if you want a physical rotating bezel and stainless steel body — plus the largest size available. When it comes to the Watch 6, an aluminum body makes it lighter, putting it closer to an activity tracker. The 40mm version is also the smallest Samsung smartwatch you can strap on your wrist, whereas the 44mm model sits between the two Classic choices.
Interestingly, Samsung’s previous Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is still a viable alternative due to its durable body made of titanium; plus, it tracks all the same things, save for the newer features in the Watch 6 series. If you’re a runner, you might prefer the Watch 6 for its special attention to that particular activity. On the other hand, if you want to track all of your activities, such as training routines, Garmin watches will serve you better than a Galaxy Watch.
How does the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 track activity?
The biggest changes to the Galaxy Watch 6, at least as far as activity tracking is concerned, lie more with the changes Samsung made to its Health app and Wear OS 4. One upgrade is personalized heart rate zones, which focus a little more on running but can come into play for pretty much any activity you participate in for more than 10 minutes. It’s not a perfect system, especially if you’re coming from more accurate or robust feature sets from the likes of Garmin, Fitbit, and Apple, but it can give you an idea of where you stand from one workout to the next.
With an unfettered GPS connection, outdoor runs won’t miss pertinent location, route, and pace information. While the heart rate zones can apply to any exercise, Samsung clearly uses running as the foundation with this watch. For example, Samsung Health will rate various metrics such as regularity, contact time, flight time, and stiffness during a run while explaining what they mean and why they matter.
Otherwise, the Galaxy Watch 6 tracks activity using the same sensors as its predecessors. Although Samsung says they have made tracking improvements, you may only find very incremental — if not negligible — improvements in that regard. However, with updated data and software, the watch does feel like it’s doing something new, which it effectively is. Through Samsung Health, it can track over 90 exercise types, yet only a few are automatically detected after 10 minutes of activity. So, you’ll have to remember to manually start and stop all other workouts to log the activity and get the results afterward.
Sleep tracking also gets a boost here, tracking blood oxygen, skin temperature, and even snoring. If you want, you can turn any of these off and utilize the sleep coaching that assigns you an animal based on your sleep habits. There’s more insight into sleep stages, along with notes on what you could do to wind down and get more out of your slumber. Samsung even put out a new watch face for sleep coaching to keep you on track.
It’s fairly easy to see all metrics on the watch by cycling through the various widgets. Wear OS makes it even easier to download and install third-party health and fitness apps, including Strava, Nike Run Club, Peloton, MyFitnessPal, Cardiogram, Calm, Swim.com, and many others.
How does the Galaxy Watch 6 compare to other brands?
Galaxy Watches usually integrate a little more with Samsung’s own devices, like controlling the phone’s camera (and apps from the Google Store) straight from the watch. It also goes further when it comes to health tracking features, like the ECG (electrocardiogram) and blood pressure monitor, both of which are exclusive to Samsung devices — they only work with the Samsung Health Monitor app. This is great if you have a Samsung phone, but maybe not so much if you’re rocking a Pixel, OnePlus, or other Android phone. One workaround would be to use a Samsung tablet to enable those features, though you’ll have an easier time doing it with one of the company’s phones.
Integration also applies to Samsung devices, like how the Galaxy Buds app works for Samsung earbuds when listening to audio. You can use any earbuds you want, but Samsung’s buds connect faster and offer controls you can adjust straight from the watch, which is super convenient when you’re exercising and don’t want to touch your phone.
Despite that, the Galaxy Watch 6 is a true smartwatch that tries to be all things to most people. For example, when not tracking exercise, you can use it to navigate a map, chat on a call, send messages, and take control of the phone’s camera. That would be a similar experience with a Pixel Watch or Apple Watch, whereas Garmin focuses heavily on activity and training, with a special focus on sports, like golf.
How long will the Watch 6 hold up?
The Galaxy Watch 6 may seem more vulnerable compared to other tough options on the market, but sapphire crystal glass helps protect the all-important screen. You get 5ATM protection as deep as 50 meters, and the IP68 water and dust resistance keeps the watch running pretty robustly in varying conditions. In addition, since aluminum is lighter than stainless steel and titanium, the Watch 6 will feel light over longer periods. Battery life won’t be all that great, but you could stretch it to 36–48 hours, depending on your usage.
Samsung generally commits to about four years of software upgrades for its One UI Watch interface, including security patches and bug fixes. Wear OS could be a different story, as Google plays the biggest role in that area. Still, Samsung has shown itself to update older smartwatches to newer versions.
Is the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 a good fitness tracker?
